GRADE DEFINITIONS OF STAINLESS STEEL

Three grades of stainless steel are used to manufacture Dumont tweezers:

“Dumoxel” is non-magnetic and strongly anti-corrosive. It is softer than Inox.

“Inox” are made from quality surgical stainless steel. Surgical steel is magnetic and this can be a problem when handling nickel grids. Inox is less acid resistant than Dumoxel or Dumostar.

“Dumostar” is a cobalt rich stainless steel alloy with outstanding characteristics and unmatched durability. They are non-magnetic.The steel is resistant to fatigue; the tips never lose their elasticity. Dumostar’s resistance is quite superior to the best of stainless steels. It has very good resistance to corrosion in: seawater, HCL, H3PO4, HNO3, H2SO4 and neutral and alkaline environments.

Tweezers: types of finish, especially referring to the tips:

“Biology” have the finest points. They are available in Dumoxel and Dumostar. Straight pointed tweezers are finer than curved.

“High Precision” (H.P.) is most commonly used in EM work. They are available in Dumoxel, Inox and Dumostar. This is the standard grade and we supply these unless “Electronic” or ” Biology” are specified.

“Electronic” are not as fine as high precision; they are available in Inox only. For large tweezers, a more robust tip is no disadvantage and electronic grade is good value.

Tweezers: other features

Epoxy coating. Except for the tips, the electronic tweezers are covered with a durable blue epoxy coating, giving extra thermal and electric insulation. The epoxy can be used up to 120 degrees C. The intact coating is 220V safe and exceptionally resistant to solvents, acids and saline solutions, but not to strong caustics.

AC are anti-capillary tip tweezers; they are only available in “Biology” grade. Though easily damaged, these tweezers defy capillary action and they are favoured by some users for “staining” operations.

“Medical” type tweezers usually have ribbed finger-grips and a particularly fine surface finish. Some types are mirror-polished, but most types are supplied with a fine matt finish.The medical finish is available in just a few styles.